


I Hope You Get My Message (In a Bottle)

by ssleif



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, but it's just pot and it's not them, if you want to call it that since Derek is in HS too, somone got high right before most every light show I've ever been to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssleif/pseuds/ssleif
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone-is-in-high-school-AU Stiles is all set to be seventh-wheel on a group date at a light show. And then he sits next to Derek. And Derek <em>sings along</em>. He's so screwed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hope You Get My Message (In a Bottle)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pepsi170](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepsi170/gifts).



> Not!fic that got ficc-y for the TW Secret Valentine exchange. [ Full playlist from the laser show here if you want to listen while/after you read. ](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9r0TAxu0YT9TMfNre2smEaveeDSESXZ6) (I take no credit; it’s song-for-song what played at the Flandrau last time I went, which is exactly what gave me the idea for this one Sterek scene I hadn’t yet seen anywhere. ;) )

So, non-wolf AU. Stiles and Derek are closer in age, maybe even the same year in school. Senior year. And they’ve been, like, aware of each other for most of their lives and maybe played together as kids, but haven’t had much interaction at school. See, Derek was always athletic, and he got super-hot between Sophomore and Junior year. Derek’s closest friend is Boyd, but through basketball and baseball and lacrosse, Derek’s friendly with Danny and Jackson, and Lydia by extension, and Lydia’s bestie is Allison.

But Stiles isn’t in that group, finally made the lacrosse team with Scott last year, but he’s uncoordinated and Scott frequently has crappy stamina (because asthma), so they ride the bench perpetually unless they are making fools out of themselves, and they’re never included in the “jock kids” or whatever, which Stiles doesn’t really mind because he’s only second to Lydia academically and that’s what’s gonna get him where he wants to go collegiality.

But socially, Jackson bullies the crap out of him (and Scott) whenever he gets the opportunity and most of the jock kids turn a blind eye and/or contribute and Stiles figures, whatever the guy was like as a kid (memories of sleeping bags on the grass under the night sky, nine-year-old Derek pointing out Sirius and teaching Stiles how to never be truly lost, and Stiles believed him right up until the next year when every string mooring him was cut and he thought he and his dad would never be found again…) whatever. Derek has clearly grown up to be a glaring, judge-y jerk and Stiles can’t figure out why somebody as awesome as Erica has been eating, when she’s in school, with such a bunch of assholes (Boyd might not be an asshole, but Stiles has never actually spoken to Boyd, or really interacted with him in any way, so he wouldn’t know).

So what? So maybe Stiles isn’t very graceful and “rangy” is a kind reach and he talks too much and doesn’t sit still very well and his clothes are a little worn and not particularly in and his Jeep runs on pigeon whispers. Who was Derek to judge? Derek had stupid stick-y out ears anyway, which Stiles absolutely did not think were adorable. And his teeth were stupid(ly cute), too. And his stubble was probably secretly patchy and scratchy (and Stiles had never once imagined petting it). And he was a dumb jock, anyway (who, Stiles pretended he didn’t know, was trying to edge him out for second place in Lit and had already tested out of the highest Spanish class and was doing independent study reading stuff in the original ancient whatever and could speak so fluently and smoothly Stiles almost swallowed his own tongue the first time he heard Derek declaim…).

So when Scott _finally_ works up the guts to ask Allison out and she says yes (which, duh, she’s too smart to forget her pen that often; Stiles was running out of spares to give to Scott to give to her), but she invites him on a group date immediately… Stiles gets suckered into going along as, like, a seventh wheel.

(”But what if something happens and the seat next to Allison is taken? And what if I end up next to Jackson?! It _has_ to go right, Stiles! He might punch me and I can’t fight and what if she figures out I don’t deserve her and never dates me again and-” “Dude, slow down, she’d probably kick Jackson’s ass and save _you_. Breathe, Scott. An attack will not help right now.” “What if I have one on the date?! What if-” “Slowly, dude. In and out.”)

So Stiles drives Scott to Allison’s house, and he walks up to the door and meets her father and walks her back and holds the door like the completely smitten cotton candy that he is, and then they head for the planetarium (which is putting on a new-ish “retro” light show with, like, music from the 80’s, and students get in half price, which is great news for Stiles’ non-existent discretionary budget).

And then they mill around the gift shop awkwardly for a few minutes: Jackson and Lydia, and Danny and his boyfriend, and Scott and Allison, and Stiles… and Derek. Stiles is not the seventh wheel. He’s the _eighth_ wheel. Or… on a date with Derek? No. Definitely not. Not with the murder-face the guy is sporting. Definitely eighth wheel. And not in a “this vehicle is now super-stable, thanks to the many redundant wheels it posses” way.

And the doors open and their group kind of crowds in with other folks, everybody aiming for the left-most bank of seating which has the best view, thanks to the angle of the main projector…

And suddenly Stiles is still standing and the only spots left on that side of the room are in between two groups of older kids, probably Beacon Hills College students, both groups giving him the eye as he makes to fill in their buffer seat… or next to Derek.

Stiles _could_ sit in the right bank of seats. He’s done it before, on field trips and things where they saw the actual, like, _space_ show. There _are_ worse things…

He sits next to Derek.

And it’s awkward, and Stiles tries to make small talk, but he starts off by trying to ask after Derek’s usual best friends, politely checking on why Boyd didn’t come…

“You _want_ Erica to have a seizure?”

Which, no, of course not, and in hindsight Stiles totally gets Derek’s disgusted face, but he hadn’t actually thought that one through. And, in fairness, Boyd and Erica weren’t exactly all PDA, and he’d maybe forgotten they were attached for a minute and so it might be a little crappy of Boyd to go on a group-date-outing-thing without her…

And it’s awkward silence for the last few minutes as Stiles tries frantically to come up with a safe topic and/or pull his foot out of his mouth…

But then they lights drop and the music starts and by the time the first firm guitar riffs of _Lunatic Fringe_ hit them, propelling red and blue spriographs… Stiles is absorbed by the show.

He quietly bops along to Tears for Fears, and then to The Fixx… doing a pretty good job of keeping all his limbs in his own seat.

Part-way through _Message in a Bottle_ , Derek starts singing softly. Stiles is like, half-asleep floating on this lovely cloud of color and sweet rough voice in his ear, wondering if someone smuggled pot into the show, because he’s definitely feeling a little floaty-er than expected. And then _Blue Monday_ comes on, and it’s a little faster, and Stiles wakes up a little and realizes, oh no, Derek can sing, and is singing in his ear, and then the song changes and Derek just keeps going, _"Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand…”_ and Stiles is so screwed. _"You make me feel alive, alive, alive…”_ And the song really isn’t _that_ suggestive, but Stiles starts flushing all over, desperately glad that the lights are off and no one can see. And Duran Duran fades into Dream Academy, and Derek sounds so sweet and nostalgic, and then so joyful and optimistic, and Stiles’ chest swells with the music and he tries to regulate his breathing. He spends all of _Never Let Me Down_ super aware of Derek’s forearm where it lays on the arm rest, and most of _Sweet Dreams_ really really needing to cross his legs the other way, but if he does that he might bump his shoe into Derek’s, and then Derek re-crosses his own legs and Stiles almost groans in relief, and waits just a moment (so it isn’t super obvious he was watching Derek’s legs) before doing his own… And then it’s _Just Like Heaven_ and Stiles' relief turns into mortification again as Derek just keeps… _"Show me how you do that trick, the one that makes me scream…”_ and Stiles is blushing and then melting as Derek softly invites him to run away… and Stiles needs to move again, and oh god, what if Derek looks over…

And after the lights come up, there’s a bottleneck and they get stuck, waiting in their row while a wheelchair is pushed down the ramps to the front row and people clog the aisles and Stiles panics a bit again and starts spewing info about the lasers they used and the kind of paint on the dome, and how none of it is reflective so as to reduce the risk of stray lasers since the show’s lasers are class 3b, not 3a, like regular little pointer lasers or laser sights, and did Derek know that a ton of laser and optical research since the 70’s has been done in the southwestern United States, because it’s so clear over the desert, and equipment doesn’t rust in the dry heat and and and….

And he’s mortified when he gets home, and tries to tell Scott, but Scott is mooning because Allison _held his hand_ and it was soooo romantic…

Stiles sees a little more of Derek at school. The guy just starts popping up when Stiles is in the halls and walking next to him without saying anything. It’s weird as hell but he’s beautiful and smart and also Jackson doesn’t beat him up or anything while Derek is around. After a couple weeks of this, when they’ve progressed to the occasional greeting and Stiles has figured out he’s allowed to ramble at Derek and Derek occasionally responds (and Derek is _secretly hilarious, oh my god, wit drier than the damn desert they make telescope lenses in_ ), Derek sits at Stiles’ and Scott’s lunch table. Boyd and Erica follow, and eventually so do Lydia and Jackson and Danny…

And Stiles opens his locker on his birthday and finds an envelope with a voucher for two tickets to the next light show at the planetarium, a Zeppelin show, and Stiles is really confused but he deduces they’re from Derek (Stiles knows Derek’s writing, don't ask… oh, but when he puts that together, he melts a little at the thought that _that is what his name looks like when Derek writes it oh god Derek actually wrote his name_ , and he shyly approaches and asks if Derek wants the other ticket and Derek flat blushes and says he didn’t want to presume but he knew Stiles liked Led Zeppelin because his mom liked them and then Derek gets a look like he walked in front of a car, clearly terrified that he wasn’t supposed to bring Stiles’ dead mom up and Stiles realizes that _Derek is just as awkward as he is oh god the grumpy silences weren’t tolerance they were social anxiety holy hell_.

And they date and it’s beautiful and Derek kisses him on the cheek the first time and _runs away_ and Stiles grins and allows himself to plan their smart, beautiful children.

And they both get into SoCal colleges, maybe the same one, and they grow up happy and healthy and probably get married and Derek blushes when Stiles explains why he kind of wants Duran Duran for their first dance.

-End-

**Author's Note:**

> I nearly incorporated Kate, like maybe Derek semi-recently figured out she was bad news and cruel and using him, and that’s why he was suddenly date-less at this outing, their first big one since his break up, and if the relationship was toxic enough, I thought about dropping the Eurythmics further down the playlist and having Derek cut off signing as it hit a little too close to home, and Stiles might have a tiny freak out figuring HE had done something to make Derek get self conscious… and a fairly-recent break-up would also explain why Derek took a little longer to ask Stiles out properly after the light show.
> 
> But then it was more complicated and sad than I wanted, so I took that bit out.


End file.
